Past Imperfect
by MariaPurt
Summary: Irina Derevko might be not dead... Well, all this happens in 4 years after 5.17
1. Chapter 1

PAST IMPERFECT

BY Maria Purt

Summary: This happens in four years after Irina Derevko falls to her death in 5.17  
Info: May have all the spoilers, esp. 517, 421 and 422. This is how I'd make Irina be good and alive.

Rating: PG-13

Disclosure: Characters of Alias belong to JJ Abrams and ABC Television.

Chapter 1

"You can't really think you'll have the information, unless I'm willing to give it. Torturing will just make it worse, and then, I'll be even less cooperative. You know who I am, don't you? In that way, you know what to expect. I was trained to withstand any kind of questioning, any kind of pain. I can easily make it without any water or food for quite a long time. And as for drugs, well, you surely can inject me with something, I'd be truthful, and still, not telling anything you want. So please, save your time and my pain.

"What is your name? I heard the other officer calling you, I guess, Richard or… So, what is it? You know me and the only thing I know about you is that you want to hurt me to get Intel for CIA.

"I can tell you something you might be interested in. You wanted to know what I knew about Irina Derevko. That's a piece of cake, because I know a great deal. Still, I want an agreement. Don't be silent; it's been 8 or 9 days since I'm here. Don't you notice this is the first time I have spoken to you? I'm talking to you when I'm not in pain, Richard. That's the only way."

"No trading; you're nothing here," said the man, finally replying and turning to face the young blond girl who was seated in the chair, cuffed to the armrests. She was obviously smiling now, in spite of the interrogation she'd been through just one hour ago.

"I'm not trading, Richard. I'm offering, and there are two options here. You can accept my proposition, or you don't. It depends on you." The girl shook her head and looked up directly into the interrogator's eyes. He came closer, carrying a little needle in his left hand.

"My name's not Richard." He smiled back taking the finger on her hand and pointing the needle right under the nail, but not pushing it yet. They were both waiting.

"I can be mistaken as to your name. One of your assistants was beating me just the moment the other one called you. It was so noisy," she smiled again, her eyes watching the needle he still held dangerously close to her finger. "You want to end our dialog?" She asked him taking a deep breath.

"You haven't told me a thing yet." His eyes were now dancing with anticipation.

"You haven't removed this item either."

"Okay, let's try. You weren't actually too far mistaken about the name. Richard was the one they called; I came in instead," he paused, taking away the needle and getting a glass of water. "I'm Gavin."

The man brought the glass to her mouth; she sipped it twice, and then turned away.

"I thought you'd drink it all," Gavin said hesitating as if to give her the second chance to drink. "I don't think you'll have this opportunity again soon."

"I'm a trained human, not a robot. And you know I haven't had any drink for too long. I might collapse if I drank too much."

He knew she had her point. Here in the CIA interrogation center, everyone knew of her capabilities, and they wanted to test if that was true. It definitely was. Gavin watched every interrogation of her. She was beaten and injured. They stopped feeding her on her third day, and she had no water for five days. Whatever Irina Derevko meant to this girl, it was astonishing.

This was the first time the CIA managed to capture one of Irina's op-team. In spite of Irina's death, it still operated and they still were out of touch of any government organization. All the Intel the CIA had for that group, code name 'Nameless', was that they had no headquarters (or at least none were known) and even four years after their leader's death they were as dangerous as Derevko had been.

Gavin remembered Irina Derevko's death. It appeared her daughter killed her accidentally, letting Irina fall down when glass ceiling covering the atrium below cracked under her weight. Then, Sydney Bristow retired, and so did her husband Vaughn. Five months later, the CIA was fought by an unknown enemy and from then on, 50 of their missions failed. It was obvious someone hunted CIA agents. It took a year before they knew whom they were dealing with. There was Operative group of about thirty to fifty people, with no official motivation but money.

Some time later, the FBI learned that the group was founded by the U.S. enemy, Irina Derevko, in the mid-nineties. None knew who ran it now. The CIA asked Sydney Bristow to come back, and she refused. After her parents' deaths, she never returned to the CIA.

Surprisingly, two weeks ago the CIA tracked down one of the operatives of the 'Nameless'; it was a girl of 20-22 years, with no data available on her in their files.

Gavin took a deep breath to get him back to present. He was still standing in front of the girl, and she was simply staring at him waiting for something.

"You look concerned," she stated. "Don't know what to ask first?" She smiled shaking her cuffed hands to feel more comfortable.

"Let's start with you telling me your name"

"What? I thought you knew… Oh, you can call me Kamilla," she paused. "Can I have some water once again please?" He brought the glass to her mouth again, and again she just had a little.

"That doesn't sound like truth; you've an accent, Polish or German maybe. The first lie of yours in just the first minute."

"I said you could call me that. I never told you that it was mine. Okay-okay, Svetlana, or just Sveta is fine."

Gavin made a note, turning to the camera, then spoke: "Sometime I'll need to know what you are, and now, yes, Irina Derevko. You mentioned you knew a lot about her. Let's begin with how you met her."

"You might be surprised, but she just came across and asked me if I wanted to earn a lot of money. I was 15 then. In our country, it isn't bad to have money, and you don't actually have to declare where you've got it from. I agreed, and, uhhh…" Svetlana shook her head slowly. "I never regretted it."

"May I ask you what job did she offer to you as a young girl?" Gavin didn't look surprised but wondered.

"Oh, well, that was op-division. It didn't have any governmental support as far as I knew, and even though it wouldn't make any trouble, I wasn't a patriot of my country."

"What year was it that you first met Irina Derevko?" Gavin asked in a low voice.

"1998 or so. Guess that was the same time as Russia had its default."

The man seemed to remember something. He crossed his arms on his chest, hiding his nervousness. "You've been interrogated for more than a week, and now you are willing to tell us whatever we want to know. That doesn't make sense."

Sveta didn't look surprised by his question, nor was she worried. She thought he'd ask that earlier, and yet, she had to make sure she picked the right words. She tried to remember the previous two weeks, and the whole 'before' those weeks. The CIA definitely didn't know anything about her and she smiled to herself remembering the real reason she was here.

That wasn't her mistake nor was it anyone else's that the CIA had caught her. She actually planned it to happen, and obviously it all went well. She was second-in-command of the ITC as they used to call themselves, and she needed some things to be done personally. The matter of the debt, she thought to herself. She had to find Sydney Bristow who had disappeared four years ago right after her mother, Sveta's boss, Irina Derevko, was considered to be dead. Sydney retired and the CIA had a way to hide those who used to work for them. That was the risk, but there was no other way to get to that woman and the ITC needed her.

Sveta remained silent, thinking to herself of Irina Derevko.

That was horrible, she thought, seeing her boss lying on the floor, bloodied and nearly dead after falling from the top of the atrium. She actually saw her falling, unable to stop it. Then two of Svetlana's team removed Irina's body, having realized her heart was still beating. Sydney and Vaughn were on their way down when the ITC made it impossible for them to check Irina's status.

Placing explosives in the atrium, they blew it up moments before the two arrived. No one would know that Irina survived the fall. In spite of broken bones, and a severe head injury, their boss was still alive. Later, however they found out the head injury had caused amnesia. It's been four years and still nothing changed. ITC kept her in their secret location; making sure nobody would ever see her in this condition. She was like a little girl, unable to remember who she was.

Svetlana hoped her boss would recover in time, and that the organization they were running would have her support again. Nothing happened and nothing was different, and except for amnesia, Irina was now physically fine.

During those four years, the ITC tried everything to help her get her memory back, including all sorts of therapy, stress. The doctor said, it was possible some scary things from her past may have their 'deja vu' for her, so Irina Derevko was tortured by the ITC. Still, nothing happened; she cried and screamed, not understanding why all these people were hurting her so cruelly.

Finally, Svetlana gave up; she secreted her ex-boss in the hidden location nobody knew about and moved on. Some more things had to be done, and there was too little time left.

Some time later, the ITC was attacked and 30 of its members killed. Svetlana knew that was a challenge; a new enemy was something she'd never expected. In eight months, 60 of the ITC were killed.

Then Irina Derevko was kidnapped. That was the first time Svetlana wished she had someone to help her.

"So?" Gavin asked impatiently. "I don't think we actually broke you. As you've mentioned, you can stand much more than this."

"I've told you already, I'm not one afraid of torture. Just don't seem to understand why you'd want to know anything about woman who died," said Sveta moving her shoulders as if to make the man see she was curious.

He, again, made some notes on his paper, and then smiled a little. Might this girl not know anything? Could she be just some field-op with no contact with the base of the organization?

Laughing to himself, he continued, "This doesn't matter. We need to fulfill some holes in our profiles, just in case."

The girl grinned, as he froze realizing he now answered her questions. "Nice try then," said Gavin. "Russian default? That is…"

"That was when all economical structures of the country went down, having…mmm… too little dollars there." She ended his phrase just as he meant her to. "That has nothing to do with Derevko. Just check some old newspapers, you'll see it there."

"Where did you … operate?" He had actually known about economical problems of all the countries of the post-USSR area, but never paid attention to what exactly they were.

"Everywhere" she smiled, "After training period, Irina and I…we… well, we traveled all over the world…"

"Training? What training?" He seemed concerned now. "Derevko had some sort of training base, didn't she?"

That was bad. Sveta was not to tell him anything about structure of the ITC, nor was she to tell him where the place was, so, she thought to herself, she had to tell him something different. Still, that had to be true in order that stupid lie detector to 'believe' her.

"Yes, it was located in north-west of Ukraine, near Lootsk, if you know that city. Some more wasser, please." **(1)**

She smiled at him. "Water, I mean."

"The training center first, please." Gavin serious; he finally had something more to probe her for.

"Are you in a hurry? No? Then, me neither, I am not going anywhere until we're finished. And I've doubts I'm going anywhere even once we _are_ finished." She waited while he gave her some more liquid. "Training…" she remembered something and her body shook unwillingly. "That was the worse part of all time I worked for Irina Derevko. But that was also time I was shocked the most. I'm not sure I know what trainings are like at CIA, but I'm sure it's far from what it looked like in Irina's organization.

"By the time..." Sveta paused checking if she still remembered what she was to reveal. "By the time I joined, I already knew my boss was ex-KGB officer, and I was little afraid of her. The 'Irina Andreyevna' was much different from the 'Irina' who offered me job. She was all business like, always serious and never smiling.

"And after learning shooting, hand-to-hand fighting, physical training, and …let's just call it studying how to look good, make up and stuff…" Svetlana's smile vanished. "There came a time for each trainee to learn how to withstand the questioning. We were all told that interrogator would stop the moment someone of us asked him to. No one actually made it through first ten minutes and neither did I. Interrogator simply brought hot steel stick close to my face when I screamed at him to stop it. Later on, Irina explained that pain is not what always breaks someone. It's often one's fear that makes it instead."

Gavin looked distant now; he was deep in thought although he did hear every word and made some more notes. "And how did Irina make you all… How many, by the way?" He asked.

"Don't know…" she said and the detector beeped loud. "I mean, we were all divided into groups of three to five. Can't seem to remember how many groups there were."

"And Irina took all of you there by force?

"No, we all respected her from the second day of the torture training. That was when she had herself unrestrictedly interrogated in order to show us no one had any privileges when he was caught. Irina was tortured for about 6 or 7 hours never giving out any word. Interrogator, I guess, would stop once she'd ask, but she did not. He used all the stuff he had for training part, electroshock, some drugs, fire, and…"

"What did she do that for?"

"I told you. We all respected her after that and did our best to learn art of being in pain." Her eyes became wild when she said the last words. "She never used some kind of torture for enemy unless she tried it for herself, so she'd know how that person felt. She could use that to break one even faster."

Sveta's mind gave her the picture of what had happened long ago: training. She did not lie, indeed that was the time everyone regretted that they agreed to work for the organization. Sveta just wasn't to tell all the truth. There were things no one would ever know, and those pictures she now remembered were ones of those things.

Eventually, the second morning Irina Andreyevna came into the training-center, wearing some jeans, jacket, and a t-shirt; no one actually saw her in clothes like that, and her hair was gathered. She greeted everyone, and then turned to speak to the interrogator. It appeared his name was Alexander, and some time later, every trainee used to call him simply Sanya. However, at that moment, he was Alexander Valeryevych; and after two or three minutes of talking Irina finally spoke to everybody. Almost everyone there spoke only Russian, so she had to use it.

"**Вчера все вы подверглись проверке, и, как и ожидалось, провалились**" she paused watching the reaction. Everyone remained silent, and so did Sanya. **(2)**

"**Проблема либо в мотивации, либо в вас. Если дело в вас, то проблему решить очень легко. Если****в****мотивации**** – ****еще****проще**" Irina smiled, pulling off her jacket. **(3)**

"**Работа в этой организации сопряжена с риском, вы это знаете. Любой****из****вас****может****быть****схвачен****и****в**** этом****случае****он****вряд****ли****избежит****допросов**" sighing, she removed the ring from her left arm and placed it on the table, near the earrings she put there the moment before.**(4)**

"**Никто не может быть исключением. Александр Валерьевич, все, что у вас имеется. У****вас****есть**…" she glanced at her watch, and then put it on the same table, "…** 7 ****часов****". (5)**

The woman then turned to face Alexander, and he immediately backhanded her face, pushing her into the wall. She obviously did not expect that, and lost her balance. Still saying nothing, Sanya took one of her arms and squeezed it putting the other hand behind the woman's back. Once having her both hands secured, he dragged her to the metal chair everyone had been seated yesterday. Irina didn't fight back, nor did she resist.

Sanya pushed her even harder, pulling a needle to the back of her neck. Irina made her way to where he led her, and in two moments she was placed in that chair, feet chained to the floor and head restrained to the back of the chair, her arms were now tied down to the armrests. All trainees were watching every thing that happened, they were actually in the same room, just 13 feet from their boss.

The interrogator placed four wires on her hands: two near the shoulders and two on the wrists. Obviously, the drug had taken its effect, as the woman began to shake even before Alexander did anything to those wires. And, once he did, Irina's body started shaking heavily when electricity went through her hands and to her feet grounded to the floor.

"You okay?" Sanya asked her to make sure he hadn't use too high voltage. He got no response, and continued. He hit her twice to her ribs, not too strong to break those, but still, that was enough for Irina to gasp for air and then breathe loudly.

"**Ага , типа мы все так и поверили , что все по- настоящему**" someone whispered, and the other voice agreed to that. **(6)**

Some time later, the blood flowed from Irina's nose, and she coughed. It was several hours since they began the procedure, and the only sounds they heard from the woman were 5 or 6 whimpers when Alexander raised the voltage or aimed the hot air to her unclothed hands.

"**Бачиш****кров****Вона****справжня** " Sveta whispered loudly, and others just shut up. **(7)**

Svetlana now remembered that was the first time she said something in Ukrainian ever since being in the training base; she used only Russian there, but at that very moment, she wasn't paying attention to what she said. She was simply shocked, as she too considered it all a charade before.

Svetlana also remembered Alexander looking at his watch some more time later. He was pleased to stop what he was doing. His 7 hours were to end in three minutes. Placing the torture item, he held to the shelf, he approached Irina and took off the cuffs. He then helped her up, leading her to the nurses who appeared in the doorway. Irina grabbed her earrings and a ring, and in a minute, they were all gone, leaving the silenced trainees deep in their thoughts.

Yeah, Svetlana clearly remembered each of the trainees who were standing there that moment, unsure of what to do or what to think. Of course, she wasn't going to tell Gavin how many they were, but the picture in her head was now even more vivid; that day all of the ITC recruits were there and it was the day Irina Derevko made them totally hers...body and soul.

Sveta looked at Gavin again, not knowing why he was smiling this time. "What?" she asked.

"You liked Irina Derevko, didn't you?"

She nodded "Yes. I did. And I actually will kill the one who made her** tot.**" The girl rolled her eyes and laughed. **(8)**

End of chapter 1:)

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**(1) Germ. "**Water"

**(2) Rus.** "Yesterday, you were all tested, and predictably failed."

**(3)** **Rus.** "The problem is your motivation, or simply you. If that's you what we're dealing with, then, it's all simple. If the problem is your motivation, then, it's even easier."

**(4)** **Rus.** "Working for this organization involves the risk of being captures, you know. Anyone can be caught, and once that happens he won't avoid questioning"

**(5)** **Rus.** "No one can be the exceptional. Alexander Valeryevych, use everything you have. You've just…" "7 hours."

**(6) Rus. **"Yeah, like we all would believe that's for real."

**(7) Ukr. "**You see the blood. It's real**"**

**(8) Germ. "**Dead"


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"Irina?" She heard a voice but didn't want to respond. "Irina!" Someone said again, coming closer to the woman who was still standing on the balcony.

"Uh?" Irina finally reacted, turning to face the one who spoke. "Sorry, I was… thinking." She smiled, her hair flying softly in the light wind.

"You have been standing here for about an hour. Aren't you freezing?" The woman said, handing a warm blanket to Irina. "I don't want you to catch cold."

"Thanks." Irina smiled again. "I love rain. It is so… clean. I am not sure, but I think it has something to do with my past." She wrapped herself with the blanket, her body shaking, realizing it was really cold outside.

The ocean was storming and the darkened night cloudy sky was pelting rain. She liked this weather, or at least, she thought she did. All she could do during the last few years was thinking, guessing and trying to remember. Irina Derevko, as they told her was her name, had nothing in her mind. People asked her some things, some really horrible things she had to know, but she did not understand what they meant.

Wrapped in the blanket, she sat back in the armchair, resting her head and looking at the woman who stood in front of her.

"What is wrong, Cathy?" she asked.

"I'm worried about you, Irina. They had you a hostage for more than four years…I mean… if you simply told me where they were, we'd destroy them. You'd get your revenge for what they did to you."

"I don't want revenge." Derevko shook her shoulders and smiled happily. "All I want is to feel safe, and I am safe now here."

"But they hurt you!" Cathy upped her tone, now almost screaming. "You don't want to leave it that way, do you? Irina Derevko would never…"

"I'm not Irina Derevko. I don't know what I am. Who I am. Where I am." Tears were running down her cheeks. "Why do you all want me to do something I never will do? I don't want to be a killer. I am not a killer, am I? … How many did that Derevko kill?"

"Okay, okay, I get it." Cathy seemed rather distracted or disappointed. "You don't want to talk to me this evening," her voice now was as calm as possible. "Don't worry, that's okay. Rest now." She went back inside leaving Irina alone on the balcony, deep in her thoughts.

She didn't want to punish anyone, did she? Irina could not say for sure what exactly she wanted. And, well, those people, they were not so bad.

_She remembered the first time she opened her eyes: head was in agonizing pain, as was all her body. First, she was so dizzy she could not even understand her surroundings. Everything seemed dark gray, then a bit lighter, and then, it was all too white, so her eyes couldn't stand it. Someone approached her, touching her hand tenderly. Still, she winced in pain, at that. _

_"Irina…"She heard the voice somewhere far from her almost dead body. "__**Irina, das ist mich, Sveta. Hören Sie mich?**__" __**(1)**_

_Irina, again, tried to pull her eyes open. It hurt, but at least she managed to see the one speaking. She never saw that girl before. Before? Before what, she asked her sleeping mind, and tried to move her arms. God, she thought, I'd better not do that. The pain overwhelmed her, and she cried out. _

_Immediately, the room was full of people wearing white, and they were all around her. One of them injected her with something even before she tried to resist. Irina didn't know who these people were, and why they were calling her that name. But she tried and, predictably, failed to remember her real name. There was nothing she could think of. _

_The one who injected her nodded to the girl and left. The others followed him and, as soon as they all were gone, the girl sat next to Irina's bed. She was worried that was obvious. _

_"Irina, you feel any better?" She spoke with an accent, touching the woman's forehead. There was a __huge bandage there, covering almost all her head, and down very close to Irina's eyes._

_She wanted to reply and once had her mouth open, she realized she could not say anything. Whatever they gave to her moments ago had its effect and she was now falling__ asleep. That's for the good, she thought before drowning into darkness. At least, there was no pain there, and she could now rest. _

The sky shouted and Irina looked up. It was late, but she didn't want to sleep. She tightened her blanket, moved her head slowly and looked at the door. Cathy would not probably be back now, she was upset, or maybe even angry, but would try not to bother Irina. The woman breathed deeply, remembering.

_The first time she was told who she was, Irina could barely believe it. Otherwise, she could not take it she was a killer and a spy all her life. _

_That was when she came to for the second time. They obviously drugged her, so she now did not feel much pain, and neither did she feel her body. Once her eyes were open, some device beeped, and in five seconds, someone entered her room. It was a girl she saw before, still worried, looking thoughtfully over Irina's pale face. _

_"Irina?" The girl started as people in white appeared behind her. _

_They were busy, not paying attention to the blond. Irina closed her eyes to get rid of headache, but that could hardly help. She moved her lips trying to make a sound._

_"Who…" She didn't finish._

_"Irina, how you feel?" _

_"Who…are…you? What…" The woman whispered._

_"__**Ich**__… Me, Svetlana. You not remembering __**mich**__?.. Irina…" __**(2)**_

_"I'm not Irina," she finally gathered her strength to say. "I don't know who I am."_

_The girl's face froze. She immediately turned to the one in the white robe, and he said something Irina could not understand. They both then left just to come back several minutes later, still talking. They looked at her in disbelief, doctor said more to Svetlana, and she nodded. Svetlana spoke again, slowly and pausing after each phrase. _

_"You remember something?.. Anything?.. You fell down, remember?.. You are Russian… You run ITC… Nothing?" She sighed seeing confusion on the other woman's face. _

_"I can't be," Irina smiled weakly. "...Russian. I don't speak it."_

_The doctor approached the girl. Irina could see he was nervous. She wanted to get out of here, to go home. If she knew where home was, it would be much easier to do that. The girl's phone rang, and the man in white stopped talking as Svetlana picked up the mobile and listened carefully. She said nothing, but turned it off then, and spoke to the doctor again. Still, Irina could understand nothing they said. _

_"Can you tell me?"_

_"__**Was**__… What do you want, Irina?" Svetlana turned her head to face the older woman. __**(3)**_

_"Who am I?" _

_Irina spent the next few hours listening to three people whom she obviously saw for the first time in her life; but those seemed to know her before – or the one they thought she was – and they continued to call her like Irina. Her head hurt, she could not take it anymore as they told her she was a killer of sort. Her eyes began tearing and she cried._

_"I'm not it, you know. Why are you lying to me? I can't be that one." She became silent as she felt her entire body in pain again: the painkillers had worn off. Hysterically, experiencing more pain in her head and ribcage, she tried to sit up only to find they tied her to the bed. Her mind blew up, and Irina felt dizzy again. She did not believe them, did she? _

_"Let me go!" She screamed before collapsing. _

_"**Doktor! Es geht ihr Schlechte! Kommen Sie …**" Irina heard before loosing consciousness. **(4) **_

Irina looked at the sky again, turning her head to the door to the bedroom. It was time she'd better get some sleep not to feel awful tomorrow morning. She got up from the armchair and headed to her bedroom. It was warm inside, and the lights were off. Irina set on the edge of her bed massaging her stiffened torso.

Her mind took her back to her time in ITC's hands. First, they seemed to treat her well, and nothing predicted they'd make her suffer other than telling her she had been worst one in the whole world. In some time, her wounds healed, and she was allowed to go anywhere within the base, but after several weeks they moved her to some place where there was very few people, and Irina knew none of them. She still had sessions with the psychologist, but those made no progress: Irina remembered nothing. The man said her injuries were terrible and her survival was just a miracle.

She remembered the pain in her hands when those people in white robes connected her to the electricity. They said nothing to her, as they didn't speak her language. Just before they started, the blond girl, Svetlana, came in. She spoke to Irina in a low voice, saying she hated what they were about to do to her. "But there is no other way. We tried all we could. And we need you remember who you used to be."

And they did it, time after time, each time it was worse than before.

Irina's body shook unwillingly and she closed her eyes tightly to get rid of that picture. She could not. Maybe Cathy was right: she had to take her revenge on those people in order to feel better. Otherwise, the nightmares would probably not stop.

End of chapter 2:)

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**(1) Germ. "**It is me, Svetlana. Do you hear me?"

**(2) Germ. "**I… Me"

**(3) Germ. "**What"

**(4) Germ. "**Doctor! She is worse! Come you…"


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"What, you still can't get anything? Cathy, I'm shocked!" The middle-aged man spoke to Cathy once she appeared in the doorway.

"Uh, shut up. She's stupid or she's playing her own game. Anyway we're off our schedule now, god damn it!" As she said this, she hit the table with her hand.

"Hey, don't break furniture, hon! Who said that it would be easy?" Timothy said taking her into his arms. "We'll need it. The table, I mean," he smiled. "Does she at least trust you?"

"Course she does!" Cathy shouted. She was now in another house and Irina would not hear her, nor would she even know where Cathy was. "We need more time and apparently we don't have that much. We better get back to the substation. She thinks I went to bed, so she doesn't expect me till morning."

They left the house, closing the door, and turning on the gate signal. Once seated in the jeep, Cathy spoke: "I honestly don't get it. How could she create that crazy group of killers, she looks so peaceful."

"You look so too, now." Tim said. "That also doesn't mean anything, does it?"

Cathy didn't reply as her phone rang.

"Hola, Josh! Yep, we'll be there soon. Uh, don't even ask; I want to see Jane in my office once I arrive, yes, and briefing in 40 minutes. Okay, see you." She turned off the mobile, and took a deep breath watching the road passing by their car. "I'm afraid I'll kill her soon. Anyway, it has to end. I'm tired."

"Catherine, you surprise me. If I hadn't known you for all my life, I'd think you were out of your mind." Tim laughed. "We've spent so much time hunting her, so much of our resources…"

"And what's the point? I thought once she didn't remember anything, she'd be easy to deal with." The woman shrugged.

"You'd better have some sleep, little one. I'll wake you up when we arrive."

"You're kidding? I'm 40, so don't call me a little one, Tim. If you weren't my brother, I'd kill you for that," she yawned. "Besides, we'll be in place soon."

A half hour later their car slowed and they stopped in front of the gray wall, waiting. Cathy typed something on her panel, and the wall moved to the right, letting them in. Rain stopped hitting the car as they moved inside their base. A man was waiting, holding some papers.

"What is it, Simon, you drown your laptop?" Cathy smirked as she got out of the jeep, taking her bag. Timothy followed her, smiling at her joke.

"Un, no, madam. It is what we found in the flat of the last target we eliminated. It's a protocol related to 2005. I want you to have a look," he handed the paper to his boss.

Cathy studied it for a second, and asked, "Why would someone keep it in one's apartment for that long?" Cathy wondered. "Is there anything I don't see?"

"Well, yes and no. First, I wondered about it too, but then, uh, madam, it is encrypted. I think the CIA might have something to do with it, but we need more time to contact our sources."

"Simon, who was the target?" Cathy asked, her voice inpatient.

"Ex-Prophet agent. High ranking. Helmut Folker." Simon said following his boss to the elevator.

"Wasn't that the one who ran a science laboratory in Nevada?" Timothy interrupted as he typed the password on the panel; the elevator started down. "He wanted to make a deal with us, but betrayed us, didn't he?"

Cathy nodded slowly. Simon gave her the second piece of paper.

"And this is…" the woman asked.

"We found it in his apartment too. Looks like he worked on brainwashing program for the Prophet V. Yes, yes, I know, that is old one, but somehow he added some sort of therapy, the subject would react the way the programmer wanted, not even knowing he was programmed. Just in some situations, but not all the time."

The elevator's door slid open, and they went down the hall. Cathy led the way to her office, still thinking.

Simon continued. "We've been working with it for the last 20 hours, still can't gather all of it. It's too complicated."

Cathy greeted people who stood in the briefing room, and turned to Simon:

"Speaking about Folker, not to mention, that was a tactical mistake. His death I mean. Contact your sources; I want to know what is in that protocol. And if that is instruction for his program, I want to have it." She again looked at the agents giving Simon a signal that their conversation was ended. "Okay, everyone. We have new assignment…"

End of chapter 3:)


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"Syd, come here!" The voice carried into the room unexpectedly.

"What's up?" She asked loudly, still not moving from her son's bed.

"You must see this." Michael said, appearing in the doorway.

"Uh?" She turned her head slowly; then she kissed the boy and left. "So, that was… what?"

"Your older child just…" Vaughn didn't finish as Sydney finally noticed what he wanted her to see. "...just did it." He stated quietly. And I meant her little son made that tower.

Sydney slowly approached the carpet, where there was a tower placed now. The same one she managed to make when she was a child. The same one she proclaimed to be a disaster.

"Sweetie, did you do this?" She asked smiling. Still, she trembled, as she realized she was using her father's words like her own.

"Yes, mommy. Nasty game. Boring."

"Uh, that's not for you, dear. It's just… something I forgot to throw in the dump," she smiled again, taking the parts of the tower and heading toward the door. "I thought you threw it all away the day we moved," she whispered to Michael, her tone irritated.

"I did."

"Then, how on earth did it appear here?"

"Nice question… Not that it's the same one you had when you were a child, huh?"

"Dunno." Syd shook her head as if refreshing the vision. "Now, your bed is waiting for you," she spoke to the child, who immediately jumped up from the floor. "Nighty, night, sweetheart!"

"You too, Mommy," she heard, hurrying down to the kitchen. Memories were flooded with moments from her childhood. She looked at Michael who seemed to be deep in thought. "What do you think?"

"I'm not sure," he hesitated, still turning the pieces of the tower in his hands, "But this is not like the one I found in your wardrobe and threw out."

The next moment the floor shook and windows shattered. From upstairs, a child's scream was heard. Both parents hurried there, but one more explosion sounded outside the house, making the front door crash inward. Syd landed on the floor, covering her head with her hands.

"What the…" Michael yelled as he moved to his wife, lifting a sharp knife from the table. "We'd better move now."

"Yeah," she said, getting up and running to the children's bedrooms. They were still crying, still hiding somewhere there. Another explosion happened very close, and Sydney noticed smoke coming from her kitchen. Vaughn fell to the ground. "You okay?" She said bending over him.

"Run. Fast. Get the kids. I don't think this is over."

Sydney rushed into her younger child's room to find little Jack hysterical. Trying to calm him down, she carried him as she ran toward Isabelle's room. Vaughn was trying to find some kind of weapon in their room. Walking into her daughter's room, Syd suddenly realized it was very quiet there.

Everywhere.

Too quiet.

"Isabel? Come on, dear, where are you," she whispered knowing there was nobody there in the room. Sydney hurried out only to find the entire house was now quiet. "Vaughn? Isabel?" She spoke a bit louder than before.

Still, there was no response. Heavy smoke came from the kitchen and the little boy in her arms coughed. She stopped, trying to hear something. Anything, but there was dead silence. No gunshots, no screams, nothing. She slowly went down the stairs, sensing she was now all alone in the house. She cradled Jack in her arms.

"Shhh, don't cry. Mommy's here."

"What happened, Mommy?" He sniffled, looking frightened.

She froze realizing WHAT actually just happened. As the thought overwhelmed her mind, she hurried to the phone on the coffee table, quickly punching in a number she thought she'd never use again.

"This is Sydney Bristow Vaughn speaking. Security number," she paused, trying to remember the one correctly. It had been a long time since she last used it. Then, she slowly said the number, praying for it to be correct and active. Her voice was about to break any moment now. Isabel was gone, her husband, Michael, was gone, her house was a mess and she was sure she'd not find the gun which Michael was supposed to bring to her several minutes ago.

"Yes, Mrs. Vaughn?" The voice was no one Sydney recognized. Too much time since…

"The safe place is compromised. We've been attacked," she paused, shocked by her own words. "What's the situation?" The voice sounded indifferent, even maybe robot-like.

"I don't know. My husband and daughter have been kidnapped. I need an extraction...and hurry! The attackers are heavily armed. If they're still here. Looks like they already have what they wanted."

The line disconnected, and Sydney pressed 'redial' to make sure no one would be able to track her call. Everything was fine and the number vanished as if their conversation never happened.

Moving to the kitchen to make sure nothing was on fire, she heard something outside. Not that she'd try to maneuver right now, but the curiosity made her pause and listen. She carefully lowered herself to the floor, making as little sound as possible…hearing,

"…podriamos ver en funcionamento…"

"Mommy?" The boy whispered. "I'm scared."

"Shhh, Jack."

"...sera por parte de ustedes el responsible de coordinar…"

The voice stopped as if the speaker knew she was listening. Then, there was nothing outside. Syd stayed in the dimly lit kitchen as long as it took for the extraction team to get to her place. She was not armed, and she had a little child – and that made too complicated to react in any other way.

Three hours later, Agent Sydney Bristow entered Director's office, at CIA headquarters.

End of chapter 4


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

It had been several hours since Svetlana was lead to her cell by the guards. Her conversation with Gavin took almost all her strength, and she felt tired, very tired, the moment they pushed her inside. The young woman dropped her head onto the pillow realizing she actually had one for the first time since she'd been here.

"Thanks," she murmured comforting herself on the mattress. Her body hurt terribly, no matter how hard she'd tried to forget about it. Her stomach squeezed at the feeling of emptiness, making her suffer even more as she remembered the water she'd drunk. « Черт!» She touched the bruise on the left cheek and it immediately felt as though on fire.

They would not think to feed her, not until she'd reminded them to. It looked like the worst part was now behind, and Sveta could finally relax her mind, letting in all the pain she'd experienced at the CIA center. Her body jerked, as she took a deep breath.

She went over her plan again. She'd go to the CIA to give them disinformation, wouldn't she? She had to move now, to get in touch with her team to get the technical access. In this case, she'd better be trusted. Her mind laughed as Sveta remembered the interrogator's pleasure when they finally 'broke' her.

_She was walking through the terminal when she suddenly felt something in her neck, something that hurt. The vision became shadowy and she felt dizzy. 'She needs space' strong hands caught her once she started slipping down onto the floor. ' Get medical, she's had heart attack' Sveta heard before she lost consciousness._

_She awoke on the bunk, still dressed in her travel clothes, pink blouse and black skirt. Her hand bag was gone and so was her jewelry. She thought of what was about to happen once again. She might just tell them what she was to tell, and they'd want to know more. She'd answer, they'd want even more, and finally they'd find her limit of telling._

_Svetlana felt her neck was on fire, and tried to lock the pain deep inside her mind. That helped. So, once they knew everything she'd wanted them to, the CIA would demand more information, and Sveta would refuse to give it. She'd not be trusted and they'd torture her in order to know it, if she didn't to give up any important intel, they would finally kill her._

_"Stubbornness will save a cat. Once," She spoke quietly so no one could hear her. In time they would be grateful for any kind of information…_

The sound of the door being opened drew her back to present. She slowly turned her head to face the one who entered to see an old man wearing white and carrying a black satchel.

"I can't continue," she began. "I need a break, let me rest."

The man approached her, touching her shoulder lightly. She remained silent as he did that, waiting for him to continue. He then placed his case on the floor, taking a long look Svetlana's pale face. She blinked.

"Turn onto your back," the man demanded. "I am here to take care of your wounds if there are any," he smiled, helping her to move.

"My stomach," she said. "It's about to collapse from hunger."

He examined her ribcage to find two ribs cracked. As he did, she cried out in pain, automatically trying to push him away with her arms.

"I've some food here for you" he chuckled. "You want to eat or have bandage first?"

"Be shot would be preferable" Sveta smiled faintly. "Ayeee!" She cried again as he touched the wound on her foot, pushing her black silk skirt up.

"You will be moved to regular CIA custody in 10 hours. Until then," the voice came from the doorway, where Gavin now stood. He watched the doctor wrap her foot with a huge piece of bandage, and continued. "You won't be questioned anymore. I assume you will cooperate."

"Get up and remove your blouse, please," the doctor said as Gavin looked at both of them thoughtfully. "I need to bandage your ribs," the man in white explained. She slowly obeyed.

"Why am I being transferred?" She managed to ask between gasping for air as the doctor wrapped her ribcage

Gavin laughed. "Did you enjoy your time here?" She shook her head negatively. "Then, no need to tell you that if you're stubborn, you'll find yourself here again."

End of chapter 5 


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Irina woke up, yawning and blinking at the bright light of her window. She had slept badly, she knew. She slowly got up and, after making her bed, left the bedroom to the hall. Irina went down the stairs and approached the kitchen door when she suddenly heard someone speaking. Suppressing her excitement, she listened, careful not to let them know she was there. They spoke about some deal or trade, and she thought the male voice wasn't pleased.

"We can't continue like this. We've attacked four substations, and still have nothing," he said.

The female voice replied, "We'll attack four more, if needed."

Irina finally recognized the female voice. It was Cathy. Sighing deeply, she opened the door and entered saying "Good morning" to Cathy and feigning surprise when she noticed the man at the table.

"You okay?" Cathy asked. "You look pale, Irina."

"I didn't sleep well," she smiled. "I think… I mean… what if I could not find the place where they… where they held me?"

Cathy now turned to face the older woman. "What do you mean?"

"I want them taken down. The...the ITC, or whatever they're called now. But I am not sure I can."

Cathy silently looked at the man; then smiled victoriously and seated Irina at the table.

"It's okay. We'll use every resource we can. Do you remember how it looked?" Catherine placed a plate with sandwiches in front of Irina.

"How what looked?" Irina asked.

"Their headquarters," Cathy explained.

Irina shook her head; then froze remembering. "Might it be in Germany?" Irina took a cup of coffee and sipped it twice.

"We extracted you from Italy. Why do you think it was in Germany?" Cathy smiled.

"In that place, I think they spoke German to each other. And … Ost-rin-ghen was mentioned, I guess." She looked up to see that the man had left the table.

"Call me once you have it," he said before closing the door. He was now calm and, maybe even satisfied. The man rushed out of the house, slamming the front door shut. "Bitch" he whispered to himself once he was out of the house where no one could hear him.

He took his telephone out of his pocket, and after a little search, called the number. "Frederick? Yes, it is me. .. Just had. Yes, she thinks we can afford it all. I know. Yes. Sure, no problems. What? Uh, just sell it all. I'm sure it's about to collapse and I don't want to lose that much money… Yours? No...listen, I don't… I don't know; just sell those stupid papers out…" He approached his car and inserted the key to start the engine, and firing a cigarette at the same time. "Sell. Them. Out. Now."

The man slammed the car door shut, dropped the burning cigarette out of the window and slowly moved his car toward the gates.

"Back to the CIA, are you sure they'll cause no problems? Okay then...your turn. Bye." He tossed the phone onto the seat next to him, accelerating until he was through the gates.

Cathy silently watched him leave and then looked back at Irina. The older woman now was eating her breakfast hungrily, and Cathy spoke to her again.

"I assume you do know that you have a daughter, don't you?"

"I know, but I don't remember her," Irina said quietly, still eating. Cathy sighed, taking one more cup of coffee. "Her name was… S…Sydney, I think. No?"

"Yeah, sure, it was. I just got word that they kidnapped her daughter tonight, about six hours ago. We don't know what they want, but we're almost positive she's still alive."

Irina didn't look too worried, just a little concerned which made a tense silence permeate the room for some time. A moment later, she jumped off the chair like it was on fire, letting the plate and the cup crash to the floor, and sliding off the chair to the floor.

"What's wrong, Irina?" Catherine came closer, nearly sitting next to the older woman on the floor.

"You said she was kidnapped. I don't know, but I…" she paused; then shook her head in disbelief. "I am afraid I had a vision."

"A déjà vu, you mean? Here, drink some water."

"I'm not thirsty. I'm all right, thank you."

"Okay, then, get up and tell me what you saw." Cathy insisted.

"I don't remember," Irina answered getting up and watching the other woman suspiciously.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

After some time, Sydney finally was ready act. She was still at the CIA and so far not wishing to do anything other than finding her family. She had to. She knew Dixon would do everything possible, and in some way, she truly hoped that'd be enough. However, in her heart she knew it wouldn't. She told him everything that happened, detailing every move of hers.

"They said something about… I don't know, the delivery, or the deliverer, handler maybe…" she didn't sound convinced.

In half an hour, they had Marshall working on the space recordings of the area around Sydney's house. Whoever those people were, they ought to be visible. And then, they knew it was all wrong, because after watching three times, they understood someone managed to fake the transmission.

"I thought it was impossible," said Sydney.

"I thought so too." Marshall squeezed his shoulders.

"Block all the systems, we might have a mole," Dixon interrupted. Taking out his cell phone, he called about safety measures and personal warnings to the agents who were still out in the field. Whoever hacked into the system probably knew every operation the agency was involved in now.

"If they found me." Syd spoke blinking, "it means they can find any other agents."

Two more agents stormed into the room while Dixon was still looking at the screen. He checked the personnel records and was now verifying retirement data, which would take some time.

"Uh, sir…" one of the agents began. Seeing Dixon turned to face him, he continued. "We believe that's the same group that attacked us before. The Nameless, I mean." He stopped. "Our system has been compromised. Twice." Nervous laughter flew rippled through the room.

"I've shut the window," Marshall said. "Our van with a prisoner we've been waiting for has arrived. Should we refuse entry regarding the safety and blocks?"

"What prisoner?" Syd wondered as Dixon told them to let the van in. If it was Nameless who they would have to deal with in order to get Bristow's family back, Dixon had better have their agent locked up.

Fifteen minutes later, a young girl was put into the cell with a one glass-wall. She interestedly looked at her new surroundings sitting on the bunk, not sure if she'd have a chance to make a first contact. Her body ached, and would for a long time. Two minutes passed before three agents faced her through the glass: two men and one woman whom she recognized to be Irina's daughter, Sydney.

"Hi," the prisoner smiled at the guests. "I'm afraid I haven't unpacked my stuff yet, I just moved in." She tried to get up, but sat back immediately as she felt a sharp pain. She wished she knew what brought Sydney back to the CIA. The girl continued staring at the agents. She'd thought it would be a problem to find the woman, and instead, Sydney came to her. That might also mean something happened.

"We believe you can tell us something," Dixon began.

"And you are…" Svetlana left it unsaid meaning a question.

"I'm Director Dixon, and these are agents Bristow and Tarrens. "You've been brought here to give us information, which we need right away."

"But its night, I'm tired."

"You are an agent of the," Sydney paused to pick up the needed word "the group that kidnapped my family. If you truly believe I'll wait until the morning to question you, you're wrong."

Svetlana froze. Not that she'd be sorry for the CIA's agent's family, but the plan was totally different. If the ITC changed it in just two weeks, then, what happened? She kept silent as long as she could, and then spoke slowly. "What makes you think that it was ours?" Her accent nearly vanished, and then, came back. "Und was… even if so, how I can help?"

"How did they get into our system?"

"Entshuldigun. Speak again." Svetlana said.

"Your organization hacked our system. How?"

"Uhhh. Ich weise nicht. Nothing," she repeated. She really didn't know. If they had had any chance to get Bristow by breaking into the CIA's system, would she be risking her life now? Sveta couldn't be sure that wasn't some part of a game they played to trick her, but in some way she suspected that the ITC's enemy came too close now. Looking attentively at Sydney, she tried to think the possible ways: would it somehow be connected to Irina's kidnapping? "Und I nicht think it was us."

"How so?" Dixon leaned into the glass.

"You know ITC is Irina Derevko organization. Da? Why would we put her daughter in danger?"

"ITC? What's that? Is that how you call yourself?" Tarrens spoke, and Svetlana nodded."If not you, then, who?" He asked.

"I don't know. We were attacked too." She lowered her head and looked at her feet. So, someone managed to break into the system, and identify their secret agents. Wow, that's so embarrassing that the ITC couldn't do the same!

"Uh, sir!" Marshal's voice echoed in the cellblock. "You'd better come see this."

**End of chapter 7 **


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

Michael found himself in darkness. Once he regained consciousness, he tried to look around and failed. It was a total blackness, with no light. He remembered the attack, worrying about his wife. Did Sydney survive? And if so, then, is she here? "Syd?" he spoke.

There was a bitter silence instead of an answer. Suddenly he heard someone approaching – someone's footsteps nearby. The door, which he hadn't noticed, opened to his left. The light blinded him for a brief moment. A figure came in, accompanied by two more just behind.  
The lights in the room went on, and Michael blinked trying to save his eyes. The men stood near the door, staring. He stared back, shock overwhelming his mind. The man standing over him was …Arvin Sloan! "You?" was all he managed to say.

"Mr. Vaughn? It's been a long time." Arvin smiled broadly. "How've you been?" He crossed his arms on his chest.

"Where are my children?"

"All in good time, Mr. Vaughn." Sloane spoke again, coming even closer. He knew exactly that his guest was chained to the floor and wouldn't cause any trouble. "Let's make it clear…"

Now Michael noticed that Sloan's manner of walking changed: he had some problems stepping on his right foot about which the hostage commented: "You were supposed to be immortal," he said nodding towards Arvin's hurt leg. "Nothing works for an eternity does it?"

"You still have that talent of bringing joy, Mr. Vaughn. I'm really happy for you." Arvin paused. "You know," he spoke in a matter of fact voice. "It's pretty useful to spend some years in a total solitude. That creates time to think a lot. Analyzing my life, I came to the conclusion that I actually misunderstood Rambaldi's prophecy," he said quietly. "Lying there, all alone, with an unbearable pain all over my body and no one to even hope for…"

"Don't go poetic, Sloan" Michael interrupted. "Where's my family?"

Sloane shook his head looking around the room as if remembering something.. "They are all okay, can ensure you. And most probably Sydney now is bringing the CIA into my lovingly made trap." He laughed.

Vaughn's face tensed, his eyes staring at Arvin; his mind waiting for the explanations he knew he'd most probably not get.

"I am to tell you a little story, Mr. Vaughn."

"Uhm, what, Rambaldi was a genius?" He smirked.

"That's yes. But first…" Sloan placed his hand in his pocket; then took out the gun and aimed it to the hostage. "…You'll know what it means." He fired at Vaughn's chest three times, bringing the younger man down to the floor with the blood running out of him.

**End of chapter 8**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

Boarding the yacht, Cathy once again thought of her brother. And she thought of Arvin. Why did he push so hard? Was there something that he didn't tell her? She remembered his stunned face when he first saw Derevko in her house. Sure, he knew the ghost was alive long before they had a chance to meet in person. In spite of all that he told her about his and Derevko's history, Cathy was sure the woman did not remember anything. It would be impossible to fake the reaction. But what was even more surprising, Arvin lost his emotional control at that moment.

Cathy jerked back to the reality to help Irina on board. "You okay?" she asked.

"Yes. It's really nice to be out. Thank you, Catherine." Irina spoke, shivering as the fresh wind met her body.

"Have a seat" Cathy said to her, while approaching the man in the front part of the boat. "The water's not that calm today."

Speaking to the captain, Cathy was remembering what Sloane said. _"If Irina Derevko is alive, I most certainly want her here," Arvin said coldly. "I suggest since I paid enough I can demand that one thing."_

_"Yes, but…" Cathy stopped looking at her opponent. "I thought you wanted her organization down first."___

_"I also want to know what I'm paying for. If we have Derevko, we have everything that belongs to her," he had stated._

In twenty minutes, they were speeding from the shore, and the waves hitting the bow, sending sprays of water into the faces of people on the yacht. Irina leaned back in her seat, enjoying the wind in her face. The water from under the boat refreshed her as the air was windy, and the sun was hot this midday.

Suddenly, she had a vision of something she'd not known or remembered. The vision was so clear she could swear it was now a real for her. She was lying on a cement floor with a dark-haired woman standing above her shaking body. Irina's face was wet, and her breathing shallow.

_"_**_Ты ничего не хочешь сказать мне, солнышко?"_**_ Elena spoke. (*1*)_**_"Ты же_**_**  
**_**_знаешь, мы можем все повторить, если ты настаиваешь"_**_ She smiled. (*2*).__  
_**_"Я так понимаю, тебе путешествие понравилось?"_**_ Elena gripped Irina's hair in her hand and raised her a little. (*3*)_

_Irina whimpered and tried to get free. Her bones ached again. The whole motor-boat idea seemed to be a hell. She'd been tied by her hands to the boat and it drove up the river for hundreds of meters, dragging her body in the water. The water felt like stone, smashing into her ribs as the boat moved faster and faster. Her stomach had several huge bruises, not to mention that her wrists and legs were skinned in some places. _

_Elena looked at her sister, still waiting for the response which she did not get. She was about to slap Irina, but looked at her face and stopped just before it would hurt. Irina's face was one big bruise with some scratches and injured nose. Elena thought it wouldn't hurt at all. She smiled._

_Irina's hands were tied behind her back, as well as were her feet locked to the wall. She couldn't move even if she had the strength to. Elena leaned down and kissed her sister's forehead. Then, she slowly spoke English, her accent heavy, causing even more horror in her sister's mind. Irina couldn't hide herself anywhere, not in her Laura being and not in her family's. Elena would take care of everything._

_"It's been three days since you're here, and you still pretend to be tough. You're not tough. You are just stubborn as our mother was. And in the end what good did it do her?" Elena let go of Irina's hair and stood up. "Tell me, what was in that Rambaldi manuscript?" She became serious, more like a boss than a sister. "I haven't done any permanent damage to you, yet. Don't make me, Irina."_

_Irina gasped for air as her sister kicked her to her stomach. Has it really been just three days? It seemed like an eternity to her here.___

_"No bones broken?" Elena smiled. "That's not for long, trust me." She went to the door and stopped just before leaving. "What do you prefer first? Hot needles under your nails, or maybe some cute scorpions?"___

_Irina jerked._

_"Oh, sorry, I forgot they were your biggest phobia. Don't worry, you'll get used to them." Elena left laughing._

Irina felt someone's hand on her shoulder, and immediately came back to reality. She opened her eyes to see Cathy sitting next to her. "What's wrong?" Cathy asked.

"I think… I think I have a sister, or maybe had. And… who is Rambaldi?"

"Where did you hear that?" Cathy looked shocked.

"My sister asked me about some manuscript that this Rambaldi was author of and it seemed I had something to do with it."

Irina's body shook a little, and her mind remembered her sister's place. It was just a few hours after they nearly drowned her in the river, dragging her after the boat, when she heard the sound of her cell door being open. She opened her eyes to see Elena standing there with two men in khaki clothes.

_One of them came closer and unlocked the chain that held her to the wall. He then took her by her upper arm and the second one helped him to take her out of the cell. Her arms were on fire as they'd been cuffed behind the back for a long time; her feet were numb and she could barely move, unable to walk. They dragged her thru the corridor to a mid-sized room with a gurney. _

_In three hours, she'd already had four sessions with the scorpions each sting adding a little dose of the poison to her blood. After each session, the doctor came and gave her an electroshock treatment. This way, Irina would stay conscious even though she had scorpion's poison in her veins._

_Irina's hands and feet were secured to the gurney, and her mouth was stuffed with a cotton cloth. She'd not have a chance to scream even if she wanted to. Irina was dizzy from the poison, her chest burned as though on fire and her spine felt as though it was sliced into millions of pieces._

_"Now that you're ready, we'll start the procedure." A female voice spoke whom Irina believed to be her sister. She tried hard to open her eyes but could not.___

_Then, everything went white._

And when she next knew she was there, Irina felt a sharp pain in her throat – she'd know later that it was the antidote for the scorpions' poison. Elena didn't want her dead, not yet.

"My sister tortured me to get that manuscript. Or at least, that's what she… wanted me to believe." Irina spoke to Cathy, who was still near by when the woman opened her eyes again.

"When was it?"

Irina shook her head. "I've no idea." She rose, agitated, and moved closer to the edge of the deck. "It was summer weather...warm, very warm and wet."

Cathy turned to the man who just came into the view, spoke to him and then he left them alone again. "I asked for a tea. You need to calm down."

"Thank you" Irina said, trembling from the memories she'd just experienced. She'd never thought what people told her to be real. And now, it seemed even worse than what they'd told her. She clearly remembered shooting her sister.

_You are a murderer._

And the strange feeling of relief once she did that she felt. Irina caught her breath. Was it pleasure? Was it?

**End of chapter 9**

TRANSLATION  
*1* Rus. "Don't you want to tell me something, sunny?"  
*2* Rus. "You know, we can make that again if you wish."  
*3* Rus. "I assume you liked the trip?"


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Vaughn slowly moved his hand, trying to reach the near-fatal injury. He could still smell the acrid smoke of the gun while looking at Sloan's laughing face. The pain was too real not to believe he was shot by the Beretta. Was it Beretta? Might it be his crazy consciousness that played him?

The pain was still slicing his chest not to believe he was shot just… how long ago? Was it what he'd thought? Arvin was still there, looking at him.

"Now you do understand?" He spoke lightly. "It will take you more than a while to recover, Mr. Vaughn."

The realization hit him, bringing dizziness mixed with the pain. He didn't die of a bullet to his heart. He just suffered close to dying and would actually rather be dead than alive in this situation, but he was not.

"What…" Vaughn tried to ask and he couldn't put the words together.

"Welcome to the club, Mr. Vaughn" Sloan smiled widely, and then nodded to one of his guards. "I believe he'll not do anything stupid."

"Wha' you do to me?" Michael whispered.

"Oh, you'll know now what it feels to be immortal. But what is even more important, you'll not try to destroy the source, because the moment it is destroyed, we are both dead." He smiled. "You know, I've heard that you and Sydney have now two beautiful children. Wouldn't want them to lose their father."

"You son of a bitch" Vaughn rolled on the floor, but the pain didn't let him move far.

"So here's our deal for now." Sloan paused to make the next part sound even more important. "You are free to go. And once Sydney is out of my way, you'll tell her not to be too active, because you already know what happens if she does break that mechanism she's probably already aware of. But what is even more important, I'm keeping one of your children with me until I'm finished."

"Finished with what?"

"You really don't want to know that, Michael. It's beyond your understanding." Arvin crossed his arms on his chest, then watched Vaughn thoughtfully for a couple of moments and left the room, followed by the guards.

No one treated Vaughn, nor did they even cleanse the wound. He was left lying on the floor, bleeding. And if that was from a bullet to the heart, he'd thought he'd die soon. But, by this time, he knew he wouldn't – if he was to die, he'd done it earlier. The blood had covered the radius of about a meter around him, when Vaughn lost consciousness, again.

"What's our status?" asked Arvin now that he'd left Vaughn.

"We passed three more marks. Seems someone is right behind us, sir."

"Uh? How so?"

"Housekeeping, you know." The man grinned. "What brings the CIA agents together?"

"I see your point, thank you. And anything about Irina Derevko?"

"We've been informed that there are some changes in her behavior, not sure what exactly. Cathy doesn't report anything to anyone."

Arvin was glad. First of all, he managed to break into the CIA's system for Sydney's hidden address and wasn't even caught. Fools, he thought with disgust. They were aware of what he had access to when with APO, and yet, they didn't care enough to change the protocols.

Secondly, he also found out that the chief of Irina's ITC was being held in the CIA custody, which meant that the organization was left with no one to make complicated and speedy decisions. The organization was left for him, for Arvin Sloan, he thought with a happy smile on his face as he left the car.

But the best part was a newly found Rambaldi manuscript. It was a miracle when the community brought it to him this morning. It was hard to believe it was true as he was sure he had all of the manuscripts long before now. And yet, they tested the artifact and it was authentic. Computers were now working on the translation and Arvin would have it within the next 24 hours.

For the time being, he could concentrate on taking his revenge on Irina. No one was allowed to let him down, not even his ex-lover. While she was still out of the field, he could make sure she'd be helpless once back. He had a 24 hour window to take down the ITC.

Arvin smiled again.

That was a good part.

There was also something more of interest for him. A matter that Cathy brought up to him lately. Some holes were evident in that case about the death of researcher Helmut Folker who was a brilliant brain-washer. All Arvin wanted to do was lay his hand on the materials of the poor one, but instead, Cathy's people killed the guy.

She found a science paper detailing some experiment. Now, that was the interesting part. All the documents were encrypted, and Cathy's people failed to decode it. Right now, Arvin didn't even need that transcription.

He already knew what was there, and he would use it appropriately to reach his goals.

**End of chapter 10**


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

As the CIA reeled in shock with what was thought to be impossible, Sydney found herself crying in the director's office alone.

It had been weird to see Marshal's freaked face when he said there was something even more important at the moment than Syd's family. But even more shocking, was seeing her father enter the Rotunda...alive.

She thought she might have seen a ghost – if he wasn't being stared by everyone in the room in stunned shock on their faces. Jack was pale as a white wall, walking slowly and uncertainly, looking around the systems room, finally finding someone to approach, Director Marcus Dixon and Sydney.

"His access code didn't pass," a guard said to Dixon, "But the computer recognized his voice code. We had to let him in."

"It's okay," Marcus said, hanging on to Sydney who was about to fall onto the floor in a faint.

"Jack Bristow?" he finally asked as Sydney gathered strength to stand by herself.

"Dad? How's that possible?" She stared at him. "We've checked the ultrasounds and everything in that rock…"

"Jack, please, in my office," Dixon crossed the room, still holding Sydney's hand in his. He immediately turned off the surveillance cameras.

During the next half hour, Jack told an incredible story, beginning with him exploding the whole underground room into millions of stones, and finishing with the view of him and Arvin still alive. That meant that Sloan was going to be a threat, again. But this thought would occupy their minds later.

"Did you know Sloan is immortal?" Jack asked knowing the answer before Dixon or Sydney had a chance to speak. "Yeah, he is the one. Rambaldi was a genius in fact. I thought I'd keep Arvin out of the world by closing the gates of the cage, but nothing like that happened. I'm not sure, why or how, I awakened to find my body still intact and alive. I could not move, nor could I make a sound. I had a terrible feeling of spending an eternity in darkness and loneliness. "

"Wasn't Sloan there?" Dixon asked.

"That's what made my mind up while laying there and thinking for several years. I figured he was there too. I could not hear him as my hearing was temporarily damaged by the explosion. The folks who released us both made sure I'd be okay. They used to say Sloan was Rambaldi's… I don't know. They'd been searching for him for quite a long time."

"Do you remember anything about them? Who they were, or where they came from or how they found you?"

"They didn't mind me leaving. In fact, they only thanked me for saving Sloan. They all spoke of old war  
that was about to be over."

"So?" Both Sydney and Dixon sighed. "It is Rambaldi again?"

"I bet Sloan had something to do with that attack on your home." Dixon looked at Syd.

"Whoa… What attack?" Bristow interrupted.

"My home was attacked several hours ago, Dad. Vaughn and our daughter were kidnapped. It seems like I'm never destined to get out of the CIA."

"Let me do the math. We have the ITC group hunting us, whom we couldn't stop; and we also have Arvin Sloan, back and immortal with an army of Rambaldi's followers on his side. Tell me I didn't miss anything?" Asked Dixon sarcastically.

"Just the fact that we now have my father alive and the ITC girl in our cell." Sydney smiled, hugging her father.

After that, both men left the office giving Sydney time to recover. She needed it desperately. Just 24 hours ago she had a normal life, being happy with her husband and children, until Isabelle found that stupid puzzle. And everything became ruined again, bringing back nightmares from the past.

**End of chapter 11**


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

The coffee was cold and disgusting. This morning Irina woke up with a terrible feeling that she no longer was herself. She no longer was the woman she used to be these past days, and…

Vanilla. The best thing ever to save ugly coffee is vanilla…

There was a noise outside the room; she raised her head to look at who would enter her room. No one did. The nightmare was still vivid in her mind, causing her nerves to burn and her hands to shake. She was Irina Derevko, a wanted terrorist and assassin, but somehow, she didn't feel like it.

This night, she recalled, she had a …vision? She had a little baby in her arms and it was raining. The rain was so hard that no one was outside in the street. Irina was making her way through a parking zone of some kind, when a wave of water washed her away, separating her from the child. Her child, she reminded herself, putting two more doses of vanilla sugar into the cold coffee.

Then she awakened on the dirty floor, shaking from the cold. She was still wet, but there were no cars, and no water around, just four walls of stone and gates instead of the ceiling . The rain would be a bad thing, she thought.

And then, there was that woman whom she earlier believed to be her torturer, Elena. No scorpions this time, just a blanket, the umbrella, and a cup of coffee...black coffee.

"A black coffee," Irina murmured and was immediately stunned as those words made sense. A picture of countless monitors was pictured in her mind, covering the pain of a second baby whom they took from her, too. Nadia.

Nadia? A hope born in the hopeless place in a hopeless time. In the middle of nowhere. That was such a relief to have her to hug, even though that was like 20 years never had a chance to bring the girl up by herself. Now Nadia was dead also, killed by Sloan.

Irina sighed. There was nothing she could do now, except for what she remembered this night. She had two daughters, and right now, knew of the death of one, and disappearance of the other.

"Hello, Irina." She heard the male voice moments before the man himself entered. She turned to face him and was caught off guard for a brief moment. It was Arvin Sloan standing in front of her, seeing her alive and looking as if at a child. "How are you?"

"Fine," She smiled, covering her face with an unemotional mask. "You are…?"

"Oh, I'm bad with introductions. My name is Arvin Sloan. We've met once before, in Cathy's apartment. You remember?" He looked concerned, but Irina was sure he didn't suspect her.

"Hardly. What are you doing here? Cathy's been away for some time."

"I know. Actually, I phoned her some time ago, and she told me to take you to her." He smiled again, even wider than the previously.

"What for? I'm not to leave the house." Irina crossed her arms over her chest, wondering if Sloan had something on his mind.

Suddenly, he was aiming a big gun directly at Irina's head, standing a few meters away. She wouldn't say if it was an automatic reaction of her own, or if she was just out of her mind, but the next moment she kicked him hard, throwing the weapon onto the floor and slamming the man's head to the table.

Sloan fought back, blocking her hands with his, and hitting her with a taser that struck her body with electricity. Irina fell to the floor, the lack of being able to work out causing her suffer even more than Arvin expected.

That was bad, she thought, before Arvin hit her with electricity again, making sure she'd not get up soon. She screamed.

"Seems like you fooled us all, Irina," he snarled. "Or maybe it's just a miracle I prayed for for so long. Now, get up, and don't do anything stupid. You're not in good shape, my dear. We have a journey to take." He helped her to her feet.

They left the room, Irina stumbling in front with the gun pointed at her spine. When they reached the car and she sat in the passenger sear and Irina asked, "What is it you want from me, Arvin?"

"Ohhh…" he smiled, feeling satisfied. "What I want is much more than what I'm about to get. Still, there is something you have and it's what I want."

She studied him for quite a long time before speaking again. "I was out of the business for several years. I don't own anything."

"Your people do. Your army of pets caused us so many troubles these years, they used to consider themselves on duty even when you were out of your mind." He shook his head in disbelief.

"My… pets?"

"Oh, sure, don't pretend they're still invisible. I'm not the CIA to be as blind as not to notice when the ITC's moves through the area." He started the engine, speeding out of the yard. "Originally, I had a different plan, but since a miracle happened and you became yourself again, we're going to plan B. You'll contact them, and tell to them to transfer the artifact they found in Africa to the location I name."

"What makes you think I will?" Irina asked in a low voice, considering the possibility to hit his head or to break his neck right now. Unfortunately, she wasn't sure she was strong enough. She tensed her hands wishing to try , but without any sort of workout during the past years, she thought, she had became weak…

"In that case, I'll cut one finger after another off your granddaughter's hands in front of you."

…But not as weak as he thinks. With that, Irina jerked her elbow into the car's window, smashing it into pieces. She grabbed one piece of sharp glass and struck it into Sloan's chest. He screamed with surprise as all the moves took about a second. The car went off the road, but Sloan remained seated putting on the brake. He looked directly at Irina.

She stared back, opening the door and getting out of the car, when Arvin fired the gun.

"Can you imagine I am still alive even after so disappointing attack? In fact," he waved his gun, motioning her to get back into the car. "In fact, while you were fighting over the Horizon for power, I gained it all."

After a short pause, he added:

"I'm immortal, Irina. Play on my side, and you'll become one too."

**  
****End of chapter 12**


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